Week of concerts: The Wild Reeds, Sarah Allison Turner, Lee Ann Womack

Last week I went to several concerts. If you can't tell from the rest of my blog, going to concerts is one of the main ways I spend my free time. I love live music!

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Last Tuesday I went to the 9:30 Club with a friend to see The Wild Reeds. We saw them at the Strathmore during one of the free outdoor summer concerts, so we were excited to see them again. I don't know their music well at all, so I can't say I have a favorite song or anything like that. But here are a few music videos:

Fall to Sleep

Capable

Only Songs

Everything Looks Better (in Hindsight)

What I Had in Mind

Then last Friday I went to the Birchmere to see Lee Ann Womack. I had been to this venue twice previously (I saw Los Lonely Boys in 2016 and saw Stephen Lynch in early 2017), so I already knew that the food is overpriced and not that good, so I made sure to eat dinner before the show.

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The opener was Sarah Allison Turner. I had never heard of her before, but I liked her music! She has a good voice, and her songwriting is fun and clever. "This Ain't My Circus" and "Fat, Drunk, and Pregnant" were two of the songs I really liked. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any videos of the songs I heard that night. She said she's been in Nashville for seven years trying to make it, and I can see why: if you don't utilize YouTube and other social media channels, no one is going to know who you are! I hope she starts uploading videos of herself singing from EVERY show she does. Then maybe she'll be "discovered" finally!

But she did write these two songs for other people:

Tyler Farr's "I Should Go to Church Sometime" (I love this song (although her version is better than his; his voice is too harsh for this message). Going back to your roots in whatever faith you follow is a wonderful way to center yourself and your life.)

Alan Jackson's "The Older I Get" (an interesting song for a young woman to write)

 

While I liked Turner's voice, when Lee Ann Womack came on stage, she blew her opener AWAY! Womack has an incredible voice, and even her live performance sounded like her recordings. She is amazing! She has a new album out called "The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone," so she sang a lot of songs from that. I understand that she wants to promote her new album, but we all bought tickets because we love her old songs! 

Here are some songs from the new album that she performed that night:

Mama Lost Her Smile

Wicked

Take the Devil out of Me

And here are the old favorites she performed:

I Hope You Dance (I can't believe she didn't save this for her encore!)

A Little Past Little Rock

Last Call

Never Again, Again

Ashes by Now

I'll Think of a Reason Later

She didn't sing some of my favorites, so that was disappointing. I wish she had done these:

Something Worth Leaving Behind

You've Got to Talk to Me

Why They Call It Falling

The Fool

And I realize this is Willie Nelson's song featuring her, but it would have been cool if she had sung "Mendocino County Line" as a duet with one of her band members (all of whom are men).

But even without these songs, I really enjoyed seeing Womack perform, and I would definitely see her live again!